Horst Ludwig Wessel was a Germnan National Socialist activist and national hero of the NSDAP following his assassination in 1930. He was the author of the lyrics to the song "Die Fahne hoch" ("Raise High the Flag"), usually known as Horst-Wessel Lied ("the Horst Wessel Song"), which became the Party anthem and Germany's official co-national anthem from 1933 to 1945.

Wessel was born in Bielefeld in Westphalia, the son of a Lutheran pastor, Dr Ludwig Wessel, who from 1913 until his death in 1930 was the minister at the Nikolaikirche, one of Berlin's oldest churches. His mother Luise Margarete Wessel also came from a family of Lutheran pastors.
Although he was later portrayed by hostile sources as an illiterate thug, Wessel was well educated. He attended the Volksschule des Köllnischen Gymnasiums (primary school) from 1914 to 1922, and the gymnasium(secondary school) in Königstadt from 1922. For his final year of school he attended the "Luisenstadt Gymnasium", where he sat and passed his Abitur (the German school leaving examination). In April 1926 he enrolled in the law faculty of Friedrich-Wilhelm University (now Humboldt University) in Unter den Linden, and appears to have been a satisfactory student until he decided to devote all his time to the National Socialist movement.
Wessel was politically active from an early age. His father was a supporter of the conservative German National People's Party (DNVP), and when he was fifteen Wessel joined the DNVP youth group, the Bismarckjugend. He soon became a local leader, engaging in street battles with the youth groups of the Social Democrats and Communists.

In December 1926, Wessel joined the NSDAP and its paramilitary organisation, the SA. Until this time the Party had been very weak in "Red Berlin," but from 1926 under the energetic leadership of the new Gauleiter, Dr Joseph Goebbels, the NSDAP rapidly displaced the other political parties. Wessel was one of the wave of new young recruits Goebbels brought into the party.
Wessel soon impressed Goebbels and in January 1928, during the period when the Berlin city authorities had banned the SA in an effort to curb political street violence, he was sent on a study trip to Vienna, to study organisational and tactical methods of the National Socialist Movement there. In May 1929 Wessel was appointed leader of SA-Troop 34, based in the Friendrichshain district where he was now living. In October 1929 he decided to devote himself fulltime to the Party and dropped out of his university studies.
In addition to his political activities, Wessel was a talented musician. He played the schalmei (shawm), a kind of oboe popular in Germany, and founded an SA Schalmeienkapelle, or shawm band, which was used to provide music during SA parades and meetings and to attract new followers. In early 1929 Wessel wrote the lyrics for a new "fighting song" (Kampflied), which was published for the first time in Goebbels's newspaper Der Angriff in September, under the title "Der Unbekannte SA-Mann" (the Unknown SA-Man). This was the song later known as "Die Fahne hoch" from its opening line, or as the "Horst Wessel Song".

On the evening of January 14, 1930 Wessel answered a knock on his door, and was shot by an assailant who then fled the scene. He was gravely wounded and lingered in hospital until he died on February 23. His assassin was Albrecht or Aly Höhler, an active member of the local Communist Party (KPD) branch. (Höhler was sentenced to six years imprisonment for the murder, but was killed by the Gestapo after the Party accession to power in 1933.)
Wessel was buried on March 1, in the Nikolaifriedhof, in Prenzlauer Allee. It was reported that 30,000 people lined the streets to see the funeral procession. Goebbels delivered the eulogy in the presence of Herman Göring and Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia, son of former emperor Wilhelm II, who had joined the SA.
When the Party came to power in 1933, an elaborate memorial was erected over the grave, and it became the site of annual pilgrimages by Party members, at which the Horst Wessel Song was sung and speeches made. Wessel was elevated by Goebbels' propaganda apparatus to the status of leading martyr of the National Socialist Movement. Party propaganda glorified his life. Wessel was commemorated in memorials, books and films. Hanns Heiz Ewers wrote a novelistic biography of him. One of the first films of the new era was an idealised version of his life, based on Ewers's book.
The Berlin district of Friedrichshain, where Wessel died, was renamed Horst Wessel, and a square in the Mitte district, Bülowplatz, was renamed Horst-Wessel-Platz, as was the U-bahn station nearby. In 1936, the German War Navy (Kriegsmarine) commissioned a three-masted training ship and named it the Horst Wessel.
The martyrdom of Horst Wessel led directly to the promotion of his song "Die Fahne hoch" as the official Song of Consecration (Weihelied) for the National Socialist Party. From 1933 it was adopted as the unofficial second part of the German National Anthem, to be played and sung immediately after the Deutschlandlied.

"Devotion, fervor, longing! Those are my pillars. We have to be the bridge to the future."

Dr. Joseph Goebbels

"When the old traditional values and friendship means more to you than race for money, when you love your country and your nation, when you are ready to stand up for your people then you are part of a minority and when you are proud that you are part of this minority you are a national socialist."

Horst Ludwig Wessel was a Germnan National Socialist activist and national hero of the NSDAP following his assassination in 1930. He was the author of the lyrics to the song &quot;Die Fahne hoch&quot; (&quot;Raise High the Flag&quot, usually known as Horst-Wessel Lied (&quot;the Horst Wessel Song&quot, which became the Party anthem and Germany's official co-national anthem from 1933 to 1945.

Wessel was born in Bielefeld in Westphalia, the son of a Lutheran pastor, Dr Ludwig Wessel, who from 1913 until his death in 1930 was the minister at the Nikolaikirche, one of Berlin's oldest churches. His mother Luise Margarete Wessel also came from a family of Lutheran pastors.
Although he was later portrayed by hostile sources as an illiterate thug, Wessel was well educated. He attended the Volksschule des Köllnischen Gymnasiums (primary school) from 1914 to 1922, and the gymnasium(secondary school) in Königstadt from 1922. For his final year of school he attended the &quot;Luisenstadt Gymnasium&quot;, where he sat and passed his Abitur (the German school leaving examination). In April 1926 he enrolled in the law faculty of Friedrich-Wilhelm University (now Humboldt University) in Unter den Linden, and appears to have been a satisfactory student until he decided to devote all his time to the National Socialist movement.
Wessel was politically active from an early age. His father was a supporter of the conservative German National People's Party (DNVP), and when he was fifteen Wessel joined the DNVP youth group, the Bismarckjugend. He soon became a local leader, engaging in street battles with the youth groups of the Social Democrats and Communists.

In December 1926, Wessel joined the NSDAP and its paramilitary organisation, the SA. Until this time the Party had been very weak in &quot;Red Berlin,&quot; but from 1926 under the energetic leadership of the new Gauleiter, Dr Joseph Goebbels, the NSDAP rapidly displaced the other political parties. Wessel was one of the wave of new young recruits Goebbels brought into the party.
Wessel soon impressed Goebbels and in January 1928, during the period when the Berlin city authorities had banned the SA in an effort to curb political street violence, he was sent on a study trip to Vienna, to study organisational and tactical methods of the National Socialist Movement there. In May 1929 Wessel was appointed leader of SA-Troop 34, based in the Friendrichshain district where he was now living. In October 1929 he decided to devote himself fulltime to the Party and dropped out of his university studies.
In addition to his political activities, Wessel was a talented musician. He played the schalmei (shawm), a kind of oboe popular in Germany, and founded an SA Schalmeienkapelle, or shawm band, which was used to provide music during SA parades and meetings and to attract new followers. In early 1929 Wessel wrote the lyrics for a new &quot;fighting song&quot; (Kampflied), which was published for the first time in Goebbels's newspaper Der Angriff in September, under the title &quot;Der Unbekannte SA-Mann&quot; (the Unknown SA-Man). This was the song later known as &quot;Die Fahne hoch&quot; from its opening line, or as the &quot;Horst Wessel Song&quot;.

On the evening of January 14, 1930 Wessel answered a knock on his door, and was shot by an assailant who then fled the scene. He was gravely wounded and lingered in hospital until he died on February 23. His assassin was Albrecht or Aly Höhler, an active member of the local Communist Party (KPD) branch. (Höhler was sentenced to six years imprisonment for the murder, but was killed by the Gestapo after the Party accession to power in 1933.)
Wessel was buried on March 1, in the Nikolaifriedhof, in Prenzlauer Allee. It was reported that 30,000 people lined the streets to see the funeral procession. Goebbels delivered the eulogy in the presence of Herman Göring and Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia, son of former emperor Wilhelm II, who had joined the SA.
When the Party came to power in 1933, an elaborate memorial was erected over the grave, and it became the site of annual pilgrimages by Party members, at which the Horst Wessel Song was sung and speeches made. Wessel was elevated by Goebbels' propaganda apparatus to the status of leading martyr of the National Socialist Movement. Party propaganda glorified his life. Wessel was commemorated in memorials, books and films. Hanns Heiz Ewers wrote a novelistic biography of him. One of the first films of the new era was an idealised version of his life, based on Ewers's book.
The Berlin district of Friedrichshain, where Wessel died, was renamed Horst Wessel, and a square in the Mitte district, Bülowplatz, was renamed Horst-Wessel-Platz, as was the U-bahn station nearby. In 1936, the German War Navy (Kriegsmarine) commissioned a three-masted training ship and named it the Horst Wessel.
The martyrdom of Horst Wessel led directly to the promotion of his song &quot;Die Fahne hoch&quot; as the official Song of Consecration (Weihelied) for the National Socialist Party. From 1933 it was adopted as the unofficial second part of the German National Anthem, to be played and sung immediately after the Deutschlandlied.

A middle class, highly intelligent university student, he left that world to wade in to the roughest world of yes...

The German workers.

He led real German socialist workers and fought for the souls of real German workers.

This was no American style Libertarian, free market coward. He lived in a world where German-workers despaired and joined the Communists a world where German girls were forced in to lives of White slavery, Horst Wessel rescued a prostitute and she became his girlfriend , would be his loyal wife if the National Socialists won victory. The National Socialists did win victory thanks in very large part to the martyrdom of Horst Wessel.

"In every period of history, men have succumbed to certain illusions. Perhaps the most widespread illusion of our time is that people are now more thoroughly, comprehensively, and, above all, accurately informed than ever before. In reality, just the opposite seems to be the case."